Gig preview: VITAMIN at Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Duncan Seaman

“WE first met very early on in high school,” says singer Jared Laville, explaining the origins of Leeds indie pop band Vitamin.

“Harry Smith, our bassist, went to a different school. Me and the other two [guitarist Cameron Fraser and drummer Theo Cooke] were in different bands, we used to do covers and stuff. We knew Harry from the Leeds circuit and bumped into him at a party two years ago and asked him if he wanted to join us. That was kind of it – very simple.”

Nineteen-year-old Laville says of the band’s musical inspirations: “When we were younger we listened to a lot more guitar music – bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and Dinosaur Jr – then as I grew up I found myself going back to the music I listened to when I was a lot younger, the kind of records that your parents would play like soul records and r’n’b. I feel our sound is combined somewhere between them and there’s maybe an electronic, dance side to our music as well.”

The band’s first EP, Giving It Up, was released on the taste making record label National Anthem, who also launched the careers of Haim and Chvrches. “They came to see us in Leeds, at the Brudenell Social Club,” recalls Laville. “They must have heard us online, I assume, and then they got talking to us from there.”

This summer Vitamin played at Leeds and Reading Festivals. “That was amazing, that was so much fun,” says Laville. “We played on the Thursday night [on Dance To The Radio] Welcome to Leeds event, we were the only thing on at the time so it was a really big Leeds crowd, a lot of our friends were there. Reading [where they played on the BBC Introducing Stage] was great as well.”

Tonight they play the second date of their residency at the Brudenell Social Club in Hyde Park. The idea behind the monthly shows, Laville says, was: “We wanted to create a scene in Leeds that we felt that we could relate to.

“There’s a lot of scenes in Leeds but because we’re the younger generation coming through we were like, ‘Is there anywhere for us to join?’ And we were like, ‘Why don’t we pave our own way and bring other people along with us as well and create something new’.

“Each month we do it at the Brudenell we bring along different people that we know and like.”

Tonight guests are Polo and Krrum. “We like to have a bit of a vibe to it, this one has some electronic, dance music,” says Laville.

Vitamin’s next gig at the Brudenell will be on December 8 where the support acts will be Actor and Snowfox. For further details visit https://www.facebook.com/thisisvitamin/